10 Killer Last Lines In Horror Movie History

Does it count as the last line if it's written down rather than spoken? For the sake of this list let's say yes, just to make sure we can include one of the greatest horror films ever made: Stanley Kubrick's 1980 classic, The Shining.

After trying and failing to hunt down his son in the Overlook Hotel's snow-clogged hedge maze, Jack Torrance falls to the ground and succumbs to the cold.

A harsh cut shows us Jack dead in the snow, face frozen in a permanent grimace. Then, we find ourselves back inside the Overlook, and the camera slowly zooms in to a black and white photograph of a grinning Jack, seemingly having an absolutely lovely time at the hotel's July 4th ball, nearly 60 years earlier.

There are many theories about The Shining, what it all means and the explanation behind this photograph. One of the most appealing is that, as soon as Jack arrived at the hotel, it became a part of him and he a part of it. Having given in to its dark temptations (the woman in the bathroom, the drinks behind the bar), he has now been well and truly consumed by the Overlook, so much so that he even becomes part of its history.

Time does not follow its usual rules in this place. We’re told as much earlier in the film, when Delbert Grady chillingly insists to Jack: "You’ve always been the caretaker."